Sally mae student loans
SLM Corporation commonly known as Sallie Mae is the largest college student loan company in the United States. At present it has around 9 millions borrowers which clearly reflects its customer base. It provides employment to around 10,000 people.
This company provides loans to students, parents and guidance professionals and these loans are guaranteed by the Federal Government. Sallie Mae is helping millions of students in achieving their dream of higher education. They offer both federal and private loans with low interest rates and flexible payment options.
Sallie Mae has offices in almost every major state in the United States. It is one of the Fortune 500 companies and was also listed in the Forbes Global 2000 issue. According to the Business Ethics Magazine, Sallie Mae is one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens of United States. In the year 2006, Sallie Mae acquired Upromise, which conducts college fundraising programs involving students and their families.
At present there are 17 companies, which are working as subsidiaries under Sallie Mae. Some of them are First Trust Financial, Sallie Mae Bank, Sallie Mae Home Loans, Student Assistance Corporation, GRP Financial Services.
Types of Loans offered by Sallie Mae:
Various types of student loans offered by Sallie Mae are:
1) Loans for undergrads
2) Loans for graduates
3) Loans for training
4) Loans for parents
5) Loans for international students
1) Loans for undergrads: Sallie Mae offers many different types of federal and private loans for undergraduate students.
a. Federal Loans offer attractive terms when compared to private loans. They offer benefits like low interest rates, longer terms of repayments, ability to postpone making payments and more flexible credit requirements. Federal Loans for undergrads include Federal Stafford Loans and Federal Perkins Loans.
b. Private Loans are known as alternative student loans or personal student loans, which can be used to pay for college when there is no other financial source to be used. One should borrow a private loans only upto a limit that is necessary. There are various types of private student loans like Signature Student Loan, Continuing Education Loan, Career Training Loan, Tuition Answer Loan and Community College Loan. Important point to be noted here is that this loan just acts as a supplement for other loans.
2) Loans for Graduates: Sallie Mae offers a variety of loans options for graduate school students with attractive rates of interest, flexible payment options and competitive fee structure. Graduate student loans also come in the form of federal and private loans.
a. Federal Loans for graduate students offer the cheapest way for students to get loans. Federal Loans include Stafford and PLUS loans for graduate and professional students. The U.S. Government guarantees these loans.
b. Private Loans for graduate students include specialized loans for business, law and medical school students. Apart from these specialized loans, private loans also include Signature Student Loan and Tuition Answer Loan.
You get an extra benefit by combining Stafford Federal loan with a private loan. For example, you can combine a Stafford Federal Loan with a Private loan for business school and finance the entire cost of the Business school with the amount you get by combining these two. Also you get customer service from a single servicing agency when you combine the two. Similar is the case with law and medical school loans.
NOTE: For all the Federal loans for undergrads and graduates, applicants have to submit FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) failing which you will not be eligible for the loans. In addition to this, there are some other basic requirements for all the loans, private and federal that can be known from Sallie Mae's website.
3) Loans for Training: Sallie Mae helps you to finance your continuing education and career plans. You can get a minimum of $1000 up to the total cost of your education. This includes the expenses of books, computer, fees and other such things. Loans for Training include Career Training Loans and Continuing Education Loans.
a. Career Training Loans: This is a private loan offered for technical training, distance learning and other such continuing education programs.
b. Continuing Education Loans: This is a private loan that offers finance for post secondary students who are not seeking degrees and for those students who are seeking a part-time degree.
4) Loans for Parents: Sallie Mae also offers a range of loan options for parents who dream of providing higher education to their children or for parents who want to fulfill their children's dream of higher education. There are federal and private parent loans.
a. Federal Parent PLUS Loans: This is a loan guaranteed by the federal government for parents whose children are undergrads or are dependents. Federal PLUS loan helps parents to cover the entire cost of their children's college education. They have a very low rate of interest.
b. Private Student Loans: These are usually used to supplement the difference in the cost left after covering the costs using Federal Loans. In other words, when Federal Loan is not enough to cover the cost of education, the remaining cost is covered by private student loans.
5) Loans for International Students: International Student Loans are available for any student who is a citizen of U.S. and wants to study abroad or any foreign student who wants to get an education in U.S. Sallie Mae offers affordable loans for such students who want to pursue their higher education abroad.
Consolidation Loan: Apart from the above loans, there is something called as Consolidation loan, which is not exactly a different type of loan offered, but a combination of two different types of loans. Under Loans for Graduates, we have shared some information about this, however let us know a little more on this aspect.
You can combine one or more existing loans into a single loan. This is called as Consolidation Loan. This will help you to bear the entire cost of getting education without resorting to any other finance option. Consolidating the loans will also reduce your monthly loan payment. That is because with consolidation of loans, you can extend you loan repayment period from say 10 to 20 or even more years. However, you will be paying a higher interest because of the small payments you make monthly. Along with this there are other benefits you receive when you consolidate your loans. They are:
Lowest statutory interest rate allowed by the Federal Government,, which is guaranteed.
No application fees or credit checks required.
Fast and secure online application.
Free Concierge Service. They will handle all the paper work for you.
You will get borrower discounts and decrease your interest rates by making the payments on time.
E-signature that will make the consolidation process easier.
These were the different types of student loans offered by Sallie Mae. There is a loan for every need, which may arise in a student's life.
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